Passing Time
by BonnieD
Summary: A hiatus assignment from TWoP. The challenge - a HaileyRyan pairing if you can believe it.


"Passing Time" by BonnieD Rated R  
  
Haitus assignment: A Hailey/Ryan story for ElStallion. All disclaimers apply.

* * *

Hailey was bored. Oh so incredibly bored. She was bored enough that she had actually considered getting up from the lounge chair and doing a load of laundry, but really it would be wrong to interfere in Rosa's domain. So Hailey swirled the ice cubes in the dregs of her drink and thought about going to the kitchen for another.  
  
Sometimes she truly wondered if she had undiagnosed ADD. Nothing kept her entertained for more than two minutes. Would she go through her whole life in a semi-permanent state of discontent?  
  
She sighed, tipped the glass to her lips, expertly fished out an ice cube with her tongue and began to crunch it between her teeth.  
  
Take the whole Jimmy thing for example. She'd had a crush on him since she was a little girl when she had jealously watched him escort Kirsten to Prom, Homecoming, Cotillion and every other event Newport had to offer. She had always been sure that if she could just have Jimmy or someone exactly like him, everything in her life would magically change. She would suddenly be content. Complete. The random men who had passed in and out of her life had just been filler until that magical time when Jimmy Cooper would suddenly realize that Hailey existed and choose her over Kirsten.  
  
Then, wonder of wonders, that day actually came! She was absolutely triumphant when Jimmy finally committed to dating her and ecstatic when he asked her to move into his apartment after Marissa went to live with – shudder - Julie and Dad.  
  
But within three weeks Hailey was as bored and restless as ever. The following week she left Jimmy and moved back into Kirsten and Sandy's house. Temporarily, she assured them, yet as each day passed she found herself making no move to get a job or an apartment. She was stuck like a permanent fixture in the lounge chair beside the pool.  
  
What the hell was wrong with her?  
  
The sound of a bike coming up the drive announced Ryan's arrival. Hailey perked up a little and watched for him to come around the side of the house, and how sad was it that she knew a seventeen-year-old's daily routine.  
  
He wheeled his bike to its usual place in the back yard, acknowledging Hailey with a, "Hey," as he shouldered his backpack and walked past her toward the pool house.  
  
"Hey," she returned, trying to think of something clever or disparaging to zing him with but coming up with nothing. She watched his ass, well disguised by baggy jeans, as he walked away, and thought about how incredibly pathetic she had become.  
  
To tell the truth, Ryan made her a little nervous. She didn't know what to think of this quiet, sober, self-contained kid, who lived with her sister's family. At first she had found him self-righteous and annoying, but after that whole incident last summer, she had developed a grudging respect for the young man. Imagine having such a sense of responsibility that you voluntarily sacrificed a life of wealth and privilege to go raise a kid who might not even be yours. Hailey had never been responsible for anything or anyone in her life ... and never wished to be.  
  
The door to the pool house closed behind Ryan. Hailey knew that in about fifteen minutes he would come out, naked but for his trunks, and swim precisely twenty laps. This was her favorite part of the day. In fact, she decided it deserved a second afternoon cocktail to celebrate all that straining muscle and sinew. Hailey got up and wandered into the house to refresh her glass.  
  
As she stood at the counter mixing her Bacardi and Diet Coke, she thought about Ryan some more. He had been saved from his foolhardy commitment to that girl Theresa when she miscarried in the fourth month. After a suitable grieving period, he had managed to extricate himself from the relationship and return to Newport, where things returned to normal – on the surface.  
  
But even Hailey, as oblivious as she usually was to other people's problems, could feel the strained atmosphere between Seth and Ryan. She wanted to slap her self-involved nephew for maintaining his distance from a friend he obviously cared for. Hailey knew from experience what could happen when you let a rift grow wider and wider. Sometimes it was almost impossible to bridge.  
  
Well, it was none of her business, thank god. She picked up her drink and headed toward the French doors leading out to the pool. Ooh goody, just in time to see Ryan poise on the edge and dive in, cutting cleanly through the clear water, surfacing, then continuing with long, even strokes.  
  
Hailey resumed her recline on the lounge chair, taking a sip of her icy drink. For the moment at least, she wasn't so bored.

* * *

Ryan swam to the far end of the pool, concentrating on breathing and nothing else. He didn't think of Theresa's face when he had said goodbye. He touched the wall, turned and began stroking back toward the deeper end. He concentrated on stretching his arms and kicking his legs, and didn't think about the baby whose paternity had never been tested. Reaching the end, he touched and turned again. His lungs expanded and his chest began to burn as he sucked in a deep breath of air. He swam another lap while he didn't think about Marissa and her new boyfriend.  
  
Touch. Turn. Breathe. Stroke. And he never once thought about the new and improved, Quiet Seth, who scarcely spoke to him since his return from Chino.  
  
After completing his laps, Ryan pulled himself dripping from the pool. Hailey was still rooted to her chair with a drink in her hand, just like every afternoon. He wondered how much she drank as she sat around the Cohens' house all day. She never acted drunk, so it was hard to say.  
  
He used to feel really strange doing his laps beneath her watchful eyes, but he had soon learned to ignore her presence and simply went about his business as if she were the grill or the lawn furniture.  
  
He reached for a towel and quickly rubbed down then stretched out on one of the other lounge chairs to let the sun dry him the rest of the way. He closed his eyes and soaked in the hot rays and didn't think about the Calculus exam he had probably flunked or the fact that he hadn't spoken to another person in the entire seven hours he had spent at school.  
  
"So, Ryan." Hailey's voice sounded a little scratchy and rough, like maybe she hadn't used it yet today.  
  
"Hm."  
  
"Why don't you do any extracurricular stuff? I thought you used to be on the football team or something."  
  
"Soccer."  
  
"Yeah, that."  
  
"I decided not to this year," he said nonchalantly.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"I don't know. Didn't think I'd have enough time."  
  
"Really? 'Cause it looks to me like you have nothing but time now that Marissa's dumped you."  
  
Ryan opened his eyes and glared at her. Hailey smirked and reached over to hand him her drink.  
  
"Here. You look like you could use this."  
  
He accepted it without a word and sat up to swallow the contents of the glass in one long, thirsty gulp.  
  
"I'll make us another," Hailey said, standing up. She strutted into the house with that mannish gait and Ryan couldn't help watching her ass barely covered by a tiny patch of material. Against the pale yellow bikini, Hailey's skin was a toasty brown from basting in the sun every day, and her hair was streaked with gold and tumbled halfway down her back. Ryan couldn't help noticing.  
  
The burning sun, the hefty shot of rum and the sight of Hailey's near- nudity all suddenly converged and left Ryan with an unexpected hard-on. It had been way too long since he'd had satisfaction. Although he had shared Theresa's house he hadn't shared her bed. He had tried to remain true to what he promised Marissa about maintaining their relationship even while the phone calls between Chino and Newport grew fewer and farther between. Toward the end he had wondered why he bothered to abstain when Theresa was right there, ready for him, needing him, and Marissa was far away in some dream world he had created.  
  
Now it was months since the night he'd had sex with Theresa and before that only heavy make-out sessions with Marissa all of last year. Ryan really missed his old sex life in Chino, when there were a lot of mindless fucks with various girls. Maybe that was his problem lately, he had let love enter the equation and look how screwed up things had gotten.  
  
Ryan's eyes blinked open when a shadow fell across him. It was Hailey, looming above him, offering a second drink. From this angle her breasts jutted out like a shelf and her crotch was practically level with his eyes. Ryan willed his dick down and accepted the glass.  
  
Hailey sat down in her chair and they both sipped their drinks. It didn't take long for her to start in again, though. "So, Ryan, when are you and Seth going to kiss and make up?"  
  
"Why don't you ask him?" Ryan said blandly. "I'm not the one who's pissed off." His voice took on a little edge, "Besides, I haven't done anything to apologize for."  
  
"True. But sometimes you have to be the one to say 'I'm sorry' even when you haven't done anything wrong."  
  
"Oh, like you and Kirsten? Except, wait ... you actually do have things to apologize for," he mocked.  
  
"Shut up," she snapped.  
  
Ryan's lips quirked.  
  
"You understand why Seth's upset though," she continued, unable to keep from talking.  
  
"Yes," he said, then there was a long pause and he amended it to, "Not really."  
  
"Seth was always a weird little kid, always saying bizarre stuff. Too smart for his own good and not the kind of kid that other kids like," Hailey explained. "I think he was literally friendless until you came here. I mean, it's not like I've seen Seth a lot over the years, but even I could tell the difference in him when I got here last winter. You changed his life."  
  
She paused then continued in as close to a thoughtful tone as Ryan had ever heard her use. "I'm sure he understood why you had to go to Chino, but it didn't stop him from feeling hurt and abandoned."  
  
Ryan shrugged and looked away. "You know what? Too bad," he muttered callously. "I'm sick of worrying about Seth's feelings."  
  
Hailey laughed. "Well ... all right then. Good to know you're not such a saint after all. Let's get wasted and stop worrying." She raised her glass.  
  
Ryan actually smiled. He took a swallow of his drink.

* * *

They spent the afternoon finishing off the bottle of rum and flirting with each other under the cover of trading barbed comments. Hailey rode Ryan about his need to please everyone. Ryan slammed her for being a lazy freeloader. Then they got distracted talking about the Coopers, stopped attacking each other and spent a good hour ripping Julie apart.  
  
As it got closer to dinnertime, Ryan decided they must sober up before the Cohens got home. He clumsily rose from his chair and held out a hand to Hailey. "Come on. We need to swim."  
  
"No way. I'm a tanner, not a swimmer," Hailey protested. "I don't want to get my hair wet."  
  
He grabbed her hands and tugged. "Come on. You want Kirsten to see you trashed?"  
  
"I don't really care. Unlike some people I don't brown-nose all the time."  
  
"It's not brown-nosing to show some respect to the people who give you food and a place to live," Ryan argued. But he was suddenly too dizzy and way too hot to fight, so he sank down on the chaise by her feet. He closed his eyes for a moment and waited for the ringing in his ears to subside and the world to steady.  
  
"You okay?" He heard a faraway voice say, and then he felt skin sliding over his, tracing a line up his ribcage.  
  
"Yeah." He wasn't sure if he thought it or said it. His eyes flickered open to see what was touching him. It was Hailey's foot gliding up his torso. He stared at it dumbly and then reached out to touch the gold bracelet that adorned her ankle. At that instant the glint of the fine gold chain against her tan skin suddenly seemed the sexiest thing he'd ever seen in his life. All the blood rushed straight from his head to his cock leaving him dizzier than before and with such a raging hard on that he thought he might explode right then.  
  
"Unh," he let out an unintelligible grunt, as he took her foot in his hand, cradling the heel in his palm while he pressed into her arch with the thumb of his other hand, kneading little circles; his fingers curved around the top of her foot. Hailey let out a gasp and her toes curled. Ryan didn't look up at her face. If he just concentrated on her body and didn't meet her eyes, this wouldn't be real.  
  
He began to slowly stroke his hand up her calf toward her thigh.  
  
"Oh god," he heard Hailey murmur.  
  
Ryan licked his lips. He set Hailey's foot carefully down and scooted farther up the chair to follow the movement of his hand, which had reached her thigh. Her skin was as smooth and brown as polished wood yet warm and pulsating beneath his palm and fingers. He slowed and stilled as he reached the junction of her thigh and crotch. Hailey reached out and touched his arm.  
  
"Go on," she hissed. She was leaning back on her elbows now, back arched and chest thrust out invitingly toward him. Ryan's eyes traveled up her body. He wondered briefly how she kept her stomach so toned when she did nothing but lay around and drink a lot. His eyes stopped at her cleavage. The round swell of her breasts was barely concealed by her top. It was mesmerizing to watch them heave as she breathed. Ryan suddenly knew with absolute clarity that he would die if he didn't see her breasts in the next couple of seconds. Thought bred action and he reached out to free them from the minimal constraint of her bikini. Leave it to Hailey to have a front-clasp, strapless bathing suit.  
  
The heavy globes of flesh with their perky rosebud centers invited touch, so he stroked first one then the other with the barest brush of his hand. His light caress was designed to make her want more and Hailey pushed toward him. He fondled a breast, cupping it in his hand and toying with the nipple while he leaned in to press his lips against the other. Somewhere way in the back of his head there was a clamoring sound, like a car alarm heard at a distance, screaming, "Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong." But Ryan was too involved in what he was doing to pay much attention to it.  
  
He suckled at first one breast then the other, while Hailey wound her hand through his hair and held him there. She tasted vaguely of salt sweat and tanning lotion, and her nipples felt like hard pebbles against his tongue. After a bit, she tugged roughly on his head to disengage him from his single-minded attention to her chest. "Kiss me," she ordered.  
  
"'Kay," he murmured obligingly. He felt he was floating as he zeroed in on his new target, her mouth. Hailey lay back against the lounge with a sigh as she parted her lips to accept his seeking tongue. He kissed and kissed her, gently and roughly, lightly and deeply; cupping her jaw in his hand and then weaving it through the silky strands of her hair. He alternated between soft sucking lips and full tongue exploration. He was so intent on the kissing that he was actually surprised to find that he had moved from sitting by her side to lying on top of her and pressing his erection into her thigh without even being aware of changing position.  
  
He put his weight on one arm so he could use the other hand to reach down and stroke her clit through the slippery fabric of her bikini. Hailey moaned against his mouth. Ryan slid his hand under the waistband and touched her there again. She arched up into his fingers. Then Ryan removed his hand and positioned himself so that the swollen bulge of his penis, trapped inside his swim trunks, would cause the same kind of friction and he began to rhythmically move against her.  
  
Hailey's breasts brushed his chest with each movement, her hands clutched at his back and her legs wrapped around his legs. With so much of their naked skin rubbing together, Ryan's desire grew exponentially until he could barely think of anything beyond the primal imperative, "Fuck the girl." Fuck condoms, fuck getting caught, fuck morality, just 'fuck the girl!' He thrust against her again and again.  
  
Hailey moaned once more and Ryan felt her hands begin to slide the swim trunks down his hips.  
  
Out of nowhere an image flashed in his mind of Theresa's crumpled, miserable face when she told him she had lost the baby. Instantly the fog of lust and alcohol that had obscured reason blew away. He pulled his mouth from Hailey's throat, gasping for air. Eyes wide, mouth slightly open, he stared down at her.  
  
She looked back with a glazed expression. "What? Don't stop," she muttered.  
  
Instead Ryan scrambled off of her and stood up. "We can't do this here." He was surprised because what he had meant to say was 'we can't do this.' Evidently his dick was speaking for him. He shook his head as though to clear it. "Oh god!"  
  
Desire had flared up like a grass fire burning out of control. There was only one way Ryan knew to douse a fire. He turned away from Hailey's nearly nude body, lying open and ready before him like a fully bloomed rose, walked to the pool and dove in.  
  
When he surfaced, Hailey was sitting up, refastening her top. She didn't look at him or speak to him, but picked up her empty glass and her magazine and headed toward the house. "I'm going to take a shower," she tossed back over her shoulder. She disappeared inside.  
  
Ryan dove beneath the surface of the water and considered never coming up again.

* * *

That evening as he studied alone in his room, cold sober and clear-eyed, Ryan thought about how wrong, bad and dangerous what he and Hailey had done this afternoon was. But while his brain congratulated him on escaping a catastrophe, his penis wondered if Hailey would pay him a visit tonight.  
  
It was 11:00 p.m. when Ryan closed his textbooks and turned out his light. It was 11:15 when Hailey opened the pool house door and slipped inside. She wasn't unexpected.  
  
The moonlight cut through the blinds in thin stripes that illuminated bits and pieces of her. She stood there uncertainly for a moment until Ryan pulled back the covers to invite her into his bed.  
  
As she lay down next to him and he gathered her soft, warm body into his arms, Ryan thought about what a relief it was to be able to make love without feeling love. Nothing was required of him beyond making sure they both got pleasure from the experience. No one was expecting to hear certain words or looking at him with big, questioning eyes that wanted so much more than he could give.  
  
He straddled Hailey, pushing her hard to the mattress with his body and sliding his hands up her sides underneath her shirt. She pulled his face to hers and kissed him. Her tongue darted out and tangled with his. Their mouths opened against each other, clashing roughly until their teeth clicked together. Hailey sucked Ryan's bottom lip between hers as she pulled away. It hurt in a good way. She let go with a pop and they faced each other, breathing heavily. Ryan's cock was already roused and ready to go, pressing hard against her. This was only a continuation of what they had begun earlier in the day.  
  
"Do you realize I could actually go to jail for this?" Hailey commented with a grin, as she ran one hand through Ryan's hair and grabbed his butt with the other.  
  
"Do you realize I could actually get kicked out on the street and have Sandy and Kirsten hate me?" Saying it made Ryan lose momentum. His pelvis stilled and his penis waned.  
  
"Well, they already hate me, so no problem there," she said. "I'd get the Kirsten eyes of perpetual disappointment and the Sandy 'it's no more than we expected' face, but really what else is new?"  
  
Hailey's hand at the back of Ryan's neck tried to pull him down for another kiss, but he resisted. "This is crazy. We can't do this," he muttered, rolling off of her and onto his back.  
  
"What? No way! You're not bailing on me again," Hailey complained. She turned on her side to face him. "Come on. We both want to. We're not hurting anybody and besides, no one will ever know."  
  
"With my luck?" Ryan raised an eyebrow. He glanced at the door. "Did you even lock it behind you?"  
  
"Oh, uh...."  
  
"Exactly," he said. "Nothing ever stays a secret around here." He looked away from her and said quietly. "You'd better go."  
  
"Are you sure?" she teased. Her hand skated over his chest and stomach and under the waistband of his boxers to find his cock. She grasped its heavy weight and pulled lightly. Ryan bit back a groan and his eyes closed. "Very sure?" she asked, stroking up and down a few times.  
  
"Yeah," he rasped, grabbing her hand and disengaging it from his dick.  
  
Hailey pouted. "Look, I can lock the damn door!" she said in exasperation. "It'll be fine."  
  
"It's not the door," he said. "This is just ... a really bad idea."  
  
She sat up and tugged her twisted shirt straight. "God, you're such a child!" She glared at him over her shoulder. He couldn't really see her face in the shadows but felt the glare anyway. "Grow up! When are you going to learn to take what you want instead of doing what other people expect?"  
  
Ryan couldn't meet her eyes. He knew her ethics were flawed and that the adult thing to do really was to end the sex before it started, but it didn't make him desire her any less and it was so tempting to be swayed by her words. Want. Take. Have. His body was definitely agreeing.  
  
Then he thought of Luke and Julie Cooper and although this didn't compare to that, it firmed his resolve not to invite chaos into his life yet again. "Please go," he practically whispered, staring straight ahead into the dark and refusing to look at her.  
  
He felt her weight shift off the bed as she stood up, but she didn't move toward the door. He was aware of her standing beside the bed, probably watching him, waiting for him to say something else. Seconds oozed by like time in a dentist's chair. Ryan tensed his jaw and waited.  
  
Finally Hailey snapped, "Fine." He heard her bare feet pad to the door then another long pause. "You know, no matter how hard you try to please them, you'll never get it right," she said. "You and I are the same, both screw ups."  
  
The door closed behind her with a solid click.  
  
Ryan continued to lie staring at the slats of light and shadow that marked the window for a long time. He knew Hailey was probably right. Ultimately, he could be nothing but a disappointment to the Cohens. It seemed he was incapable of making smart decisions. But he had to keep trying.  
  
He would keep trying to make himself someone they could actually be proud of.  
  
He sighed, rolled over and took himself in hand. As he jerked off, he pictured Hailey's skin, Theresa's mouth, Marissa's eyes, and this fantasy woman, coupled with his stroking hand, brought him to orgasm. But afterward his hand was sticky and his bed was still empty.

* * *

Hailey sat in the lounge chair by the pool, smoking a cigarette and watching the moonlight ripple on the water. Every now and then her gaze would stray to the dark windows of the pool house. She wished she had a drink but she was too lazy to get up and go in the house to get one. Besides, Sandy was starting to make comments about how quickly the liquor bottles were emptying themselves these days with pointed looks at her. Instead she lit her next cigarette from the butt of the first and took a deep drag. No more drinking; smoking would be her new vice.  
  
God she was bored. So incredibly bored. It was midnight on a perfect early fall evening and instead of being at a party or out clubbing with friends, she was sitting in her sister's lounge chair, chain smoking and brooding about a teenage boy who'd been mature enough to reject her sexual advances. Maybe it really was time for her to grow up.  
  
Tomorrow. Tomorrow she would study the want ads, find a job, locate an apartment, maybe ask dad for some money to get her started. Hell, maybe he'd give her enough so that she could take a little vacation in Europe and get her head on straight. That was what she needed. Just more time and a change of location then she'd really start to become someone new. Someone even Kirsten would be proud of.  
  
Hailey took another puff of her cigarette.  
  
The End 


End file.
